JCPS layoffs

JCPS is at it again. The school board is letting go 40-plus teachers but have employed several assistant principals for elementary schools. Shouldn't we have more educators in the classroom rather than administrators floating around the hallways? There is something inherently wrong in doing things so backwardly. Someone needs to explain, in detail, how this is going to work to the advantage of our children.

KRISTIN MITCHELL

Prospect, Ky. 40059 -

How about school board layoffs?

After hearing that the JCPS board wants to let 41 teachers go, including special education teachers and art teachers, and replace them with more than 40-plus administrators making thousands more, I think it is time for an official investigation of the board. According to reports, JCPS has more administrators per student than the biggest system in California. This is like Ford letting 1,000 assembly people go and replace them with 1,200 administrators. How long will the public stand for such an outrageous move in keeping our children from getting a good education? We are trying to improve the students' education, not to improve more unnecessary administrators with higher salaries. I suggest that maybe the board, who seem to have a few lifetime members, be sent packing!

JAMES AYRE

Louisville 40220 -

On Benghazi

C-J, your editorial was way off the mark when you stated: "Despite all the hysteria, there is not yet any smoking gun in the Benghazi hunt." Really? The C-J Editorial Board needs to pay more attention to what is going on in the world. What happened in Benghazi was a dereliction of duty. Who gave the stand down order? The C-J may not want to know, but I sure do. Political? I think it more criminal in nature to leave an ambassador and three brave Americans to die.

I think it's an insult to the military for the C-J to support the mindset of Hillary Clinton, who banged her palms on the table and yelled, "What difference does it make now?!" Well, if Mrs. Clinton doesn't get it, what hope do we have that she would make a good president? Ask any military family if it matters.

If we don't find out what happened, we will not learn from our mistakes. What's apparent now is that the president lied. Why? The president doesn't want to tell the public what really happened because he was campaigning on the fact that al-Qaida had been virtually neutralized. That's why the president was still talking about Benghazi being a result of the YouTube video in late September to David Letterman, on "The View" and any other place he could get air time. He knew Sept. 12, 2013, what the true nature of the attack was in Benghazi and continued to lie.

I do agree the president needs to "mind the store." He's failed so far. Not as interesting as golf and vacations, I guess.

ELIZABETH MADDEN

Georgetown, Ind. 47122 -

Neighborhood revitalization

Portland and its friends have worked for years to see an article like the one on May 5 about our revitalization efforts. Thank you. The beauty is that something is finally working the way it's supposed to!

Behind your story is the story of a neighborhood that won't quit, and a Neighborhood Plan that works. It's neighbors who care enough to work for what they want, and good people from every sector -government, nonprofits and entrepreneurs - who know how to make it all happen.

In that spirit, let's clarify the lead role that New Directions Housing Corporation (NDHC) plays, managing the federal tax dollars that Metro Louisville is investing, and leveraging those dollars to find even more. Eighty family homes, like the one on Main Street that the article highlights, will be saved because of this public-private partnership between the City of Louisville, NDHC, Habitat for Humanity and Portland's residents. More can happen when public and charitable dollars attract private investments, like the exciting initiative Gill Holland is taking.

Together, we'll restore this piece of Louisville's history with good homes, at all price-points, the way the old neighborhoods were designed.